Problem Diagnosis
The corporate manager, Dave Richardson is serving the vehicle planning division of Nissan Canada Inc. He is under real consideration about some important questions to be addressed regarding the new vehicle ordering process. This new process is proposed by the director of vehicle ordering and is part of the new Integrated Customer Order Network. It has been observed that this new process will help the company transform its vehicle ordering process or will bring a significant change in the vehicle ordering process of Nissan North America.
The entire process will shift its focus from make-to-stock to make-to-order which will bring process transformation tremendous in the company’s operations. This entire change process has two major objectives which include aligning production with the demand which is also being sought by the dealers and are making efforts to make this happen.
Secondly, the stakeholder’s perspective is also an essential take before making any final decision regarding the implementation of the new vehicle ordering process. The corporate manager is aiming to focus on two things, which include enhancing integration in the supply chain and given priority to the business objectives of the company and make the sure that the desired goals are met.
However, in order to better incorporate this strategy, the corporate manager will have to develop a complete rationale for the decision which will incorporate the benefits and the disadvantages of the proposed solution. Secondly, he also needs to decide on the implementation plan and will have to clearly define the change process to the complete set of stakeholders in order to align them on one objective.
Issues Identification
One of the major issues in the industry is regarding the demand forecast as every player in the industry, including NCI is managing forecasted demand in a poor manner which is why the need to enhance vehicle ordering process is essential. Secondly, the issues surrounding the inventory are also high concerning factors as the pressure on the suppliers is increasing. This issue arises due to the inability of the industry players to react to the changing consumer demand efficiently.
The industry players are faced with a challenge of managing inventory as the majority of the players maintain excess inventory which is causing trouble and increasing the cost. However, the scheduling and planning process of production is also inappropriate and is still dependent on excel sheets. On the other hand, the communication process is also a lengthy hassle which is leading to an inability for the companies to respond quickly to demand of the consumer. These issues are present in the entire industry and Nissan Canada Inc is also surrounded or faced with such issues.
Therefore, the company is unable to develop an efficient value to the customer’s demand and query. This entire process delays the order processing as time assimilated at order processing is very high. Furthermore, the delivery time is also hurt by this situation and the required delivery time or the current delivery time is very high and inefficient. Keeping all these issues apparent, the need of a new and revitalize vehicle ordering process is essential and also the need of the time for the company as well as the industry.
Nissan Canada Inc Case Solution
The Proposed Solution
The company is suggested to implement Manugistics planning tools in order to enhance the process flow and enhance demand forecasting. However, the company will have to focus on enhancing the scheduling and planning process as well for which the company will need to identify the dealers essential for the company. Therefore, the company will have to develop strong ties with the dealers and will have to align them to develop strong and closer working relationship.
The company requires an enterprise resource planning or an ERP system to better function and address to these challenges. ERP is an automated, centralized structure that enables firms and organizations to maintain real time data and help them perform all the activities within the organization. Thus, NCI will be able to track, allocate, modify and if required it will cancel the orders leveraging the ERP model.
The company will be able to enhance the scheduling and planning process of production as well as it will be able maintain the supply chain in an efficient manner by catering all the aspects and marinating data in real time for all these aspects. The ERP process brings alignment between the different functions of the organizations and will be favorable in creating alignment between the company and the dealers and the customers.................
This is just a sample partial case solution. Please place the order on the website to order your own originally done case solution.
Related Case Solutions & Analyses:
Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm
The Bottom-line Benefits of Ethics Code Commitment
Lessons from Pharmaceutical Product Litigation: Merck and the Vioxx Withdrawal Cona & McDarby vs. Merck Video Supplement
ATH MicroTechnologies: Making the Numbers
Critical Competitive Strategy Issues Every Entrepreneur Should Consider Before Going into Business
Gary Rodkin at Pepsi-Cola North America (B)
The Rise and Fall of Iridium
The Energy Foundation
Changing the World, One Nudge at a Time
Johnson & Johnson: Hospital Services
